Methods, Systems and Computer Program Products for Tailoring Advertisements to a User Based on Actions Taken Using a Portable Electronic Device

ABSTRACT

A method of advertising tailored based on usage patterns of a portable electronic device includes determining if a portable electronic device has entered an area associated with a local area network (LAN). A link is established between the portable electronic device and the LAN if it is determined that the portable electronic device has entered the area associated with the LAN. User services are established between the portable electronic device and a remote server using the established link based on a user profile associated with the portable electronic device. Devices associated with the remote server communicatively coupled to the LAN are controlled using the portable electronic device. Actions and/or behaviors of a user are tracked based on use of the portable electronic device. Advertisements are displayed and/or played on at least one of the controlled devices based on the tracked user actions and/or behaviors.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/817,684 filed Aug. 4, 2015, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/157,870 filed Jan.17, 2014 (now U.S. Pat. No. 9,129,309), which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 13/601,039 filed Aug. 31, 2012 (now U.S.Pat. No. 8,649,805), which is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/504,877 filed Jul. 17, 2009 (now U.S. Pat. No. 8,280,408),the disclosures of each of the foregoing are incorporated by referenceherein in their entirety.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure generally relates to the field of communicationsand, more particularly, to communications using portable electronicdevices.

A wide variety of communications services are available for users. Forexample, the use of mobile phones having the capability to communicateusing multiple types of services, for example, cellular, Wi-Fi,femtocell and the like, which are becoming widely available. Asownership of these devices becomes more wide spread, the demand forservices for these devices may be in demand.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other features of the present disclosure will be more readily understoodfrom the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments thereofwhen read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system including a portable electronicdevice suitable for use in some embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a system including multiple portableelectronic devices according to some embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a portable electronic device andbase station transceiver according to some embodiments.

FIGS. 4 through 8 are flowcharts illustrating operations according tovarious embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure will be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying figures, in which embodiments are shown.This disclosure may, however, be embodied in many alternate forms andshould not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein.

Accordingly, while the disclosure is susceptible to variousmodifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof areshown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described indetail. It should be understood, however, that there is no intent tolimit the disclosure to the particular forms disclosed, but on thecontrary, the disclosure is to cover all modifications, equivalents, andalternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the disclosure asdefined by the claims. Like numbers refer to like elements throughoutthe description of the figures.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the disclosure.As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”,“comprising,” “includes” and/or “including” when used in thisspecification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps,operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude thepresence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps,operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. Moreover, whenan element is referred to as being “responsive” or “connected” toanother element, it can be directly responsive or connected to the otherelement, or intervening elements may be present. In contrast, when anelement is referred to as being “directly responsive” or “directlyconnected” to another element, there are no intervening elementspresent. As used herein the term “and/or” includes any and allcombinations of one or more of the associated listed items and may beabbreviated as “/”.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientificterms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by oneof ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs. It willbe further understood that terms used herein should be interpreted ashaving a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context ofthis specification and the relevant art and will not be interpreted inan idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc. maybe used herein to describe various elements, these elements should notbe limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish oneelement from another. For example, a first element could be termed asecond element, and, similarly, a second element could be termed a firstelement without departing from the teachings of the disclosure. Althoughsome of the diagrams include arrows on communication paths to show aprimary direction of communication, it is to be understood thatcommunication may occur in the opposite direction to the depictedarrows.

Example embodiments are described below with reference to block diagramsand/or flowchart illustrations of methods, devices, systems and/orcomputer program products. It is understood that a block of the blockdiagrams and/or flowchart illustrations, and combinations of blocks inthe block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations, can be implemented bycomputer program instructions. These computer program instructions maybe provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, specialpurpose computer, and/or other programmable data processing apparatus toproduce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via theprocessor of the computer and/or other programmable data processingapparatus, create means (functionality) and/or structure forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the block diagrams and/orflowchart block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable memory that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablememory produce an article of manufacture including instructions whichimplement the functions/acts specified in the block diagrams and/orflowchart block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that theinstructions which execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe block diagrams and/or flowchart block or blocks.

Accordingly, example embodiments may be implemented in hardware and/orin software (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.).Furthermore, example embodiments may take the form of a computer programproduct comprising a computer-usable or computer-readable storage mediumhaving computer-usable or computer-readable program code embodied in themedium for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system.In the context of this document, a computer-usable or computer-readablemedium may be any medium that can contain, store, communicate,propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with theinstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

The computer-usable or computer-readable medium may be, for example butnot limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic,infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, device, or propagationmedium. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of thecomputer-readable medium would include the following: an electricalconnection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, arandom access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber,and a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM). Note that thecomputer-usable or computer-readable medium could even be paper oranother suitable medium upon which the program is printed, as theprogram can be electronically captured, via, for instance, opticalscanning of the paper or other medium, then compiled, interpreted, orotherwise processed in a suitable manner, if necessary, and then storedin a computer memory.

Computer program code for carrying out operations of data processingsystems discussed herein may be written in a high-level programminglanguage, such as Java, AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript), C, and/or C++,for development convenience. In addition, computer program code forcarrying out operations of example embodiments may also be written inother programming languages, such as, but not limited to, interpretedlanguages. Some modules or routines may be written in assembly languageor even micro-code to enhance performance and/or memory usage. However,embodiments are not limited to a particular programming language. Itwill be further appreciated that the functionality of any or all of theprogram modules may also be implemented using discrete hardwarecomponents, one or more application specific integrated circuits(ASICs), or a programmed digital signal processor or microcontroller.

It should also be noted that in some alternate implementations, thefunctions/acts noted in the blocks may occur out of the order noted inthe flowcharts. For example, two blocks shown in succession may in factbe executed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes beexecuted in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/actsinvolved. Moreover, the functionality of a given block of the flowchartsand/or block diagrams may be separated into multiple blocks and/or thefunctionality of two or more blocks of the flowcharts and/or blockdiagrams may be at least partially integrated.

For purposes of illustration and explanation only, various embodimentsare described herein in the context of a portable electronic device,specifically a mobile terminal It will be understood, however, that thepresent disclosure is not limited to such embodiments and may beembodied generally in any device that is capable of performingoperations in accordance with some embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

As discussed above, portable electronic devices, for example, portableelectronic devices having both a cellular transceiver and a short rangetransceiver are currently available and will likely be more prevalent inyears to come. Accordingly, some embodiments discussed herein allowcustomers to use their portable electronic device to connect and controldevices, such as a television or set-top-box, digital video recorder(DVR), audio system and/or personal computer (PC) using their local areanetwork (LAN). For example, portable electronic devices could beconfigured to provide basic remote control capabilities and web accessfor more functionality of their services and applications. As discussedfurther herein, the portable electronic device may store at least oneuser profile that may include items such as settings, favorites, digitalmedia rights and “single-sign-on” information that could be used withany compliant device. The compliant device may not even be located inthe user's home, for example, hotel televisions, hotel stereos, and thelike may also be within the scope of the present application. Multipleportable electronic device may be present within an area covered by asingle LAN and each could interface with devices based on anadministrative hierarchy as will be discussed further below with respectto FIGS. 1 through 8.

Furthermore, according to some embodiments service providers may alsotrack the actions and/or behaviors of individual users associated withthe portable electronic devices and this information can be used fortargeted advertising. Details with respect to advertising are discussedfurther herein.

Some embodiments provide methods of tailoring advertising based on usagepatterns of a portable electronic device including determining if aportable electronic device has entered an area associated with a localarea network (LAN). A link is established between the portableelectronic device and the LAN if it is determined that the portableelectronic device has entered the area associated with the LAN. Userservices are established between the portable electronic device and aremote server using the established link based on a user profileassociated with the portable electronic device. Devices associated withthe remote server communicatively coupled to the LAN are controlledusing the portable electronic device. Actions and/or behaviors of a userare tracked based on use of the portable electronic device.Advertisements are displayed and/or played on at least one of thecontrolled devices based on the tracked user actions and/or behaviors.

In further embodiments of the present disclosure, the tracked actionsand/or behaviors of the user may be stored and the stored trackedactions and/or behaviors may be analyzed to identify interests of theuser. In certain embodiments, the identified interests may be matched toadvertisements associated with the identified interests. The matchedadvertisements may be transmitted to at least one of the controlleddevices for display and/or playback at the at least one of thecontrolled devices.

In still further embodiments of the present disclosure, the user'sresponse to the matched advertisements may be obtained and stored. Thestored tracked actions and/or behaviors of the user may be reanalyzedwith the stored user's responses to identify refined interests of theuser. The refined interests of the user may be matched to advertisementsassociated with the refined interests of the user. The advertisementsassociated with the refined interests of the user may be displayed orplayed. The reanalyzing and matching may be repeatedly reanalyzed tofurther refine the advertisements displayed and/or played to the user.

Although primarily method embodiments have been discussed above, systemand computer program product embodiments are also provided herein.

Other systems, methods, and/or computer program products according toembodiments will be or become apparent to one with skill in the art uponreview of the following drawings and detailed description. It isintended that all such additional systems, methods, and/or computerprogram products be included within this description, be within thescope of the present disclosure, and be protected by the accompanyingclaims.

Referring first to FIG. 1, a system 100 in accordance with someembodiments may include a portable electronic device 190, a local areanetwork (LAN) 170 and a plurality of devices associated with the LAN,such as television 161, personal computer 163 and stereo 165. Althoughembodiments of the present disclosure illustrated in FIG. 1 include asingle portable electronic device 190, a single LAN 170 and threedevices 161, 163 and 165, embodiments are not limited to thisconfiguration. Any number of these devices or additional devices may beincluded without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

As used herein, the term “portable electronic device” includes: acellular radiotelephone with or without a multi-line display; a PersonalCommunications System (PCS) terminal that combines a cellularradiotelephone with data processing, facsimile and data communicationscapabilities; a Personal Data Assistant (PDA) that includes aradiotelephone, pager, Internet/intranet access, Web browser, organizer,calendar and/or a global positioning system (GPS) receiver; a gamingdevice, an audio video player, and a conventional laptop and/or palmtopportable computer that includes a radiotelephone transceiver. Anyportable electronic device capable of operating in accordance with someembodiments may be used without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure.

Referring again to FIG. 1, a wireless connection is established betweenthe LAN 170 and the portable electronic device 190. The wirelessconnection 150 can be any type of wireless connection without departingfrom the scope of the present disclosure. The LAN 170 may alsocommunicate with the devices, for example, television 161, personalcomputer 163 and stereo 165, through the network. It will be understoodthat although not shown in FIG. 1, a remote server, for example, anInternet server, may be positioned between the LAN 170 and the devices161, 163 and 165. As further illustrated in FIG. 1, the portableelectronic device 190 may communicate with the devices 161, 163 and 165directly over a short range link 151, for example, a Wi-Fi link, aBluetooth connection or the like. Thus, in some embodiments, theportable electronic device 190 may be used to control the devices 161,163 and 165.

It will be understood that the wireless connection may also beestablished using femtocells without departing from the scope ofembodiments discussed herein. Femtocells are small cellular basestations, typically designed for use in residential or small businessenvironments. The femtocell connects to the service provider's networkvia a broadband connection, such as a digital subscriber link (DSL) orcable. Current designs can typically support from about 5 to about 200portable electronic devices in a residential setting. A femtocell mayallow service providers to extend service coverage indoors, especiallywhere access would otherwise be limited or unavailable. The femtocellincorporates the functionality of a typical base station, but extends itto allow a simpler, self-contained deployment; an example is a UMTSfemtocell containing a Node B, RNC and GSN with Ethernet for backhaul.Although much attention is focused on UMTS, the concept is applicable toall standards, including GSM, CDMA2000, TD-SCDMA and WiMAX solutions.

As further illustrated in FIG. 1, the LAN 170 may include adetermination module 171, a priority module 173, a storage module 175and a tracking module 177, which may be configured to implement variousaspects of the embodiments discussed herein. Although the determinationmodule 171, the priority module 173, storage module 175 and the trackingmodule 171 are illustrated in FIG. 1 as being part of the LAN,embodiments are not limited to this configuration. For example, thesemodules may be present in the portable electronic device 190 or in aremote server without departing from the scope of embodiments discussedherein. Also, these modules may be integrated in the same component orincluded in different components.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a block diagram illustrating a system includingmultiple portable electronic devices 290, 290′ and 290″ in accordancewith some embodiments will be discussed. As illustrated in FIG. 2, anarea 200 associated with a LAN 270 is defined and various portableelectronic devices are depicted either entering 190′, in 190 or exiting190 the area 200 associated with the LAN.

Portable electronic devices in accordance with some embodiments areillustrated in more detail in FIG. 3. The portable electronic devices190, 290, 290′ and 290″ of FIGS. 1 and 2 may include the details of theportable electronic device 390 discussed with respect to FIG. 3. Asillustrated in FIG. 3, the portable electronic device 390 includes aportable housing 300 and may include a display 314, a man machineinterface (MMI) 316, a speaker/microphone 317, a web browser 318, atransceiver 312 and a memory 380, any of which may communicate with aprocessor 395. Furthermore, portable electronic devices 390 according toembodiments may further include a short range transceiver 392 accordingto some embodiments, which also communicates with the processor 395. Theprocessor 395 can be any commercially available or custommicroprocessor.

As illustrated, the memory 380 may store one or more user profiles 383and 385 associated with the portable electronic device 390 and useractions/behaviors 381 associated with the portable electronic device390. It will be understood that although only two user profiles and oneuser actions/behaviors file are shown in the memory 380, embodiments arenot limited to this configuration. For example, one or more than twouser profiles may be present without departing from the scope ofembodiments discussed herein.

It will be understood that the user actions/behaviors may be stored atthe portable electronic device 390 at the LAN 190, 290 in the storagemodule 175 or at both locations without departing from the scope ofembodiments discussed herein.

As further illustrated in FIG. 3, the portable electronic device 390communicates with a base station transceiver 360 connected to a mobileswitching center (“MSC”) 340 in accordance with some embodiments. Thetransceiver 312 typically includes a transmitter circuit and a receivercircuit, which respectively transmit outgoing radio frequency signals tothe base station transceiver 360 and receive incoming radio frequencysignals, such as voice and data signals, from the base stationtransceiver 360 via an antenna 305. The antenna 305 may be an embeddedantenna, a retractable antenna or any antenna known to those havingskill in the art without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure. The radio frequency signals transmitted between the portableelectronic device 390 and the base station transceiver 360 may includeboth traffic and control signals (e.g., paging signals/messages forincoming calls), which are used to establish and maintain communicationwith another party or destination. The processor 395 may support variousfunctions of the portable electronic device including methods, systemsand computer program products in accordance with some embodimentsdiscussed herein.

As discussed above, the portable electronic device 390 also includes ashort range transceiver 392. The short range transceiver 392 may be, forexample, a Bluetooth transceiver, which may allow for high transferrates of data over relatively short distances.

In some embodiments, the base station transceiver 360 includes the radiotransceiver(s) that defines an individual cell in a cellular network andcommunicates with the portable electronic device 390 and other portableelectronic devices in the cell using a radio-link protocol. Althoughonly a single base station transceiver 360 is shown, it will beunderstood that many base station transceivers may be connected through,for example, a mobile switching center 340 and other devices to define awireless communications network.

It will be further understood that one or more of the base stations 360can be a femtocell, which is a small cellular base station. Thefemtocell connects to the service provider's network via broadbandconnection. A femtocell allows service providers to extend servicecoverage indoors, especially where access would otherwise be limited orunavailable. The femtocell incorporates the functionality of a typicalbase station but extends it to allow a simpler, self-containeddeployment.

Although exemplary embodiments may be implemented in communicationdevices or systems, such as the portable electronic device 390, thepresent disclosure is not limited to such devices and/or systems.Instead, the present disclosure may be embodied in any apparatus thatmay be configured to operate in accordance with some embodiments.

Exemplary operations in accordance with some embodiments will now bediscussed with respect to FIGS. 1 through 3. The determination module171 may be configured to determine if a portable electronic device 190,290, 290′, 290″ and 390 (collectively “190”) has entered an area 200associated with the LAN 170, 270. In some embodiments, if a portableelectronic device 190 is determined to have entered the area 200associated with the LAN 170, 270, the determination module 171 may befurther configured to prompt a user of the portable electronic devicefor a form of identification for security purposes. For example, theuser may be prompted for a login, a password, a biometric or the like.If the form of identification is valid, i.e. satisfied a security rulesuch as login provided=login stored and password provided=passwordstored, the LAN 170, 270 may establish a link between the portableelectronic device 190 and the LAN 170, 270.

Once this link is established, the LAN 170, 270 may establish servicesbetween the portable electronic device 190 and a remote server (notshown) associated with devices 161, 163 and 165 using the establishedlink based on a user profile associated with the portable electronicdevice 190. The user profile may be stored at the LAN by the storagemodule 175, at the portable electronic device in memory 380 as userprofile 1 or user profile 2 or both without departing from the scope ofthe present disclosure. The user profile may include, for example, userpersona information, user customization information, digital rightsinformation associated with the portable electronic device and/or a userof the portable electronic device, subscription information, digitalvideo recorder (DVR) information, hierarchical user information and/orcontrol settings.

In particular, the portable electronic device 190 may be configured totransmit the user profile associated with the portable electronic device190 to the LAN 170, 270 over the established link. The LAN 170, 270 maybe configured to receive the transmitted user profile at the LAN 170,270 over the established link and transmit the received user profile toa remote server (not shown). The remote server (not shown) is configuredto receive the transmitted user profile. User services are establishedbetween the portable electronic device 190 and the remote server basedon the transmitted user profile. Thus, a user may use the portableelectronic device 190 to control devices 161, 163 and 165 associatedwith the remote server communicatively coupled to the LAN 170, 270. Forexample, the portable electronic device 190 may use the short rangetransceiver 392 to access the television 161 and control the volume,channel and the like. Similarly, the portable electronic device may beused to control other devices such as a DVR, play, fast forward, rewindand the like.

As discussed above, more than one portable electronic device 190 may bepresent in the area 200 associated with the LAN 270 as illustrated inFIG. 2. The determination module 171 may be further configured todetermine if a second portable electronic device 290′ has entered thearea associated with the LAN 270. As discussed above, once thedetermination module 171 verifies that the user is a valid user vialogin, password or the like, a second link between the second portableelectronic device 290′ and the LAN 270 may be established. User serviceare established between the second portable electronic device 290′ andthe remote server (not shown) using the second established link based ona second user profile associated with the second portable electronicdevice 290. At this point, the priority module is configured toestablish a priority between the first 290 and second 290′ portableelectronic devices based on hierarchical user information in the firstand second user profiles. For example, parent/child hierarchies,administrator/user hierarchies and the like. This can be customized bythe user. The first 290 and second 290′ portable electronic devices arethen configured to control devices 161, 163 and 165 associated with theremote server communicatively coupled to the LAN 270 based on theestablished priority.

In some embodiments, the determination module 171 may be configured todetect that the portable electronic device 290″ is no longer within thearea 200 associated with the LAN 270. In particular, as illustrated inFIG. 2, the portable electronic device 290″ is exiting the area 200 asindicated by the arrow pointing out of the area. The LAN 270 isconfigured to terminate the established link between the portableelectronic device 290″ and the LAN 270 based on detection of theportable electronic device 290″ exiting the area. At this point, theportable electronic device 290″ may be configured to operate using acellular system discussed above. In some embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the tracking module 177 may be configured to track actionsand/or behaviors of a user based on use of the portable electronicdevice 190. A display 167 and/or speaker 166 associated with at leastone of the controlled devices 161, 163 and 165 may be configured todisplay and/or play advertisements on at least one of the controlleddevices 161, 163 and 165 based on the tracked user actions and/orbehaviors. It will be understood that the advertisements may bedisplayed on and/or played through the portable electronic devicewithout departing from the scope of embodiments discussed herein.

The tracking module 177 may be further configured to store the trackedactions and/or behaviors of the user in the storage module 175 and/orthe user actions/behaviors 181 and analyze the stored tracked actionsand/or behaviors to identify interests of the user. For example, if theuser of the portable electronic device 190 continually accesses a website dedicated to sports and, in particular, hockey, the tracking modulemay identify sports-hockey as an interest of the user.

The tracking module 177 may be further configured to match theidentified interests to advertisements associated with the identifiedinterests. For example, the sports-hockey interest of the user may causethe tracking module 177 to identify hockey advertisements for games,events and the like. Then, the tracking module 177 may be configured totransmit the matched advertisements to one or more of the controlleddevices for display (on display 167) and/or playback (on speaker 165) atthe one or more of the controlled devices.

In some embodiments, the tracking module 177 may be further configuredto obtain the user's response to the matched advertisements and storethe user's response to the matched advertisements with the trackedactions and/or behaviors of the user at the storage module 175 and/or inthe actions/behaviors 181. The tacking module 177 may be configured toanalyze the stored tracked actions and/or behaviors of the user with thestored user's responses to identify refined interests of the user. Therefined interests of the user may be matched to advertisementsassociated with the refined interests of the user. The advertisementsassociated with the refined interests of the user may be displayed ondisplay 167 or played on speaker 166.

In accordance with some embodiments, the advertisements provided to theone or more controlled devices may be continually refined by repeatedlyreanalyzing and matching as discussed above.

Referring now to FIGS. 4 through 8, operations according to variousembodiments will be discussed. Referring first to FIG. 4, methods ofmanaging remote devices using a portable electronic device begin atblock 405 by determining if a portable electronic device has entered anarea associated with a local area network (LAN). If no portableelectronic device is detected (block 405), operations terminate until adevice is detected. If, on the other hand, a portable electronic deviceis detected, a link between the portable electronic device and the LANis established (block 420). User services are established between theportable electronic device and a remote server using the establishedlink based on a user profile associated with the portable electronicdevice (block 440). The user profile may include user personainformation, user customization information, digital rights informationassociated with the portable electronic device and/or a user of theportable electronic device, subscription information, digital videorecorder (DVR) information and/or control settings. Devices associatedwith the remote server communicatively coupled to the LAN may becontrolled using the portable electronic device (block 460). Thecontrolled devices may be devices such as a television, digital videorecorder (DVR), audio system and/or personal computer. For example, theportable electronic device may be used as a remote control for atelevision.

Referring now to FIG. 5, once a portable electronic device is detected,the user may be prompted for a form of identification for securitypurposes (block 506). It is determined if the security rule is satisfied(block 508). If the security rule has not been satisfied (block 508),operations return to block 506 and await another form of identification.If, on the other hand, the security rule is satisfied (block 508), alink may be established between the portable electronic device and theLAN (block 520).

The user profile associated with the portable electronic device may betransmitted to the LAN over the established link (block 523). Thetransmitted user profile may be received at the LAN over the establishedlink (block 525). The received user profile may be transmitted to aremote server (block 527). The transmitted user profile may be receivedat the remote server (block 530). User services may be establishedbetween the portable electronic device and the remote server based onthe transmitted user profile (block 540).

It may be determined if the portable electronic device has exited thearea associated with the LAN (block 570). If it is determined that thedevice has exited the area (block 570), the established link may beterminated and operations may cease. If, on the other hand, it isdetermined that the device has not exited the area (block 570),operations remain at block 570 until it is determined that the devicehas exited the area or has been powered off.

Referring now to FIG. 6, operations with respect to multiple portableelectronic devices will be discussed. Assuming that a first portableelectronic device is already present in the area associated with theLAN, it is determined if a second portable electronic device has enteredthe area associated with the LAN (block 605). If it is determined that asecond portable electronic device has not entered the area (block 605),operations remain at block 605 until a second device is detected. If, onthe other hand, it is determined that a second portable electronicdevice has entered the area (block 605), a second link between thesecond portable electronic device and the LAN may be established (block620).

User services between the second portable electronic device and theremote server may be established using the established second link basedon a second user profile associated with the second portable electronicdevice (block 640). A priority between the first and second portableelectronic devices may be established based on hierarchical userinformation in the first and second user profiles (block 657). Thedevices associated with the remote server communicatively coupled to theLAN may be controlled using the first and second portable electronicdevices based on the established priority (block 660).

Referring now to FIG. 7, methods of tailoring advertising based on usagepatterns of a portable electronic device begin at block 705 bydetermining if a portable electronic device has entered an areaassociated with a local area network (LAN). If it is determined that aportable electronic device has not entered the area associated with theLAN (block 705), operations remain at block 705 until it is determinedthat a portable electronic device has entered the area associated withthe LAN. If, on the other hand, it is determined that a portableelectronic device has entered the area associated with the LAN (block705), a link between the portable electronic device and the LAN may beestablished (block 720). User services are established between theportable electronic device and a remote server using the establishedlink based on a user profile associated with the portable electronicdevice (block 740). Devices associated with the remote servercommunicatively coupled to the LAN may be controlled using the portableelectronic device (block 760).

Actions and/or behaviors of the user may be tracked based on use of theportable electronic device (block 780). For example, where the user iscalling, what web sites the user accesses, what television shows theuser records and the like. Advertisements may be displayed and/or playedon at least one of the controlled devices based on the tracked useractions and/or behaviors (block 795).

Details with respect to tracking user behaviors and/or actions will bediscussed with respect to the flowchart of FIG. 8. As illustrated inFIG. 8, operations begin at block 881 by storing the tracked actionsand/or behaviors of the user. The stored tracked actions and/orbehaviors may be analyzed to identify interests of the user (block 883).The identified interests of the user may be matched to advertisementsassociated with the identified interests (block 885). The matchedadvertisements may be transmitted to at least one of the controlleddevices for display and/or playback at the at least one of thecontrolled devices (block 887). User responses to the matchedadvertisements may be obtained (block 889) and stored with the trackedactions and/or behaviors of the user (block 890).

Once the user responses have been obtained and stored, operations mayreturn to block 883 where the stored tracked actions and/or behaviors ofthe user are reanalyzed with the stored user's responses to identifyrefined interests of the user. The operations proceed to block 885 wherethe refined interests of the user are matched to advertisementsassociated with the refined interests of the user. The advertisementsassociated with the refined interests of the user may be displayed orplayed to the user (block 795, FIG. 7). As indicated by the arrow fromblock 890 to block 883 of FIG. 8, the reanalyzing and the matching maybe continually repeated to further refine the advertisements displayedand/or played to the user.

As briefly discussed above with respect to FIGS. 1 through 8, someembodiments provide portable electronic devices configured to connect toboth a LAN and local devices and may be used to control local devicessuch as a television or stereo. Use of the portable electronic device inaccordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure may allow auser to reduce the number of devices in his/her possession.

As further discussed above, the user's actions and/or behaviorsassociated with portable electronic devices in accordance with someembodiments may be tracked and stored. The stored user actions and/orbehaviors may be used to tailor advertisements to be displayed to theuser on the portable electronic device or one of the controlled devicesassociated with the LAN.

In the drawings and specification, there have been disclosed exemplaryembodiments of the disclosure. However, many variations andmodifications can be made to these embodiments without substantiallydeparting from the principles of the present disclosure. Accordingly,although specific terms are used, they are used in a generic anddescriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope ofthe disclosure being defined by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, by a processor ofa remote server, a first user profile for a user of a first portableelectronic device in communication with a local area network, whereinthe first portable electronic device has supplied identificationinformation to satisfy a security rule, and wherein the local areanetwork has established a link to the first portable electronic device;establishing, by the processor, user services provided by a controlleddevice on the local area network, wherein the user services areestablished with the first portable electronic device and are based onthe first user profile; receiving, by the processor, a second userprofile for a user of a second portable electronic device incommunication with a local area network, wherein the second portableelectronic device has supplied identification information to satisfy thesecurity rule, and wherein the local area network has established a linkto the second portable electronic device; establishing, by theprocessor, user services provided by the controlled device on the localarea network with the second portable electronic device based on thesecond user profile; establishing, by the processor, a priority betweenthe first and second portable electronic devices based on hierarchicaluser information in the first and second user profiles; and configuring,by the processor, the first and second portable electronic devices toenable direct control of the controlled device based on the priorityestablished.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the direct controlincludes providing advertisements to the controlled device.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: responsive to establishing theuser services, identifying, by the processor, interests associated withthe users of the first and second portable electronic devices accordingto tracking of actions, wherein the actions include accessing mediacontent, and wherein the identifying of the interests includesdetermining a correlation between the media content accessed.
 4. Themethod of claim 3, further comprising: identifying, by the processor, aresponse from the first portable electronic device to a presentation ofa first advertisement on the controlled device, wherein the firstadvertisement is based on the interests that were identified;re-analyzing, by the processor, the actions that are tracked inconjunction with the response, wherein the re-analyzing of the actionsidentifies refined interests associated with the user; and identifying,by the processor, a second response from the first portable electronicdevice to a presentation of a second advertisement on the controlleddevice, wherein the second advertisement is selected according to therefined interests that were identified.
 5. The method of claim 3,wherein the actions that are tracked include: determining voice calls towhich the first portable electronic device was a party, and determiningwhere the user is calling.
 6. The method of claim 3, wherein the actionsthat are tracked are determined by a tracking server that is part of thelocal area network.
 7. The method of claim 3, wherein the actions thatare tracked comprise accessing a website via the first or secondportable electronic devices.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the firstportable electronic device is a cellular radio telephone.
 9. The methodof claim 1, wherein the controlled device is a television.
 10. A servercomprising: a memory that stores instructions; and a processor coupledwith the memory, wherein the processor, responsive to executing theinstructions, performs operations comprising: providing firstcommunication services to a first portable electronic device; enabling,by the processor, the first portable electronic device to control acontrolled device associated with the server and coupled to a local areanetwork responsive to a determination that the first portable electronicdevice is in an area associated with the local area network; providingsecond communication services to a second portable electronic device;enabling, by the processor, the second portable electronic device tocontrol the controlled device responsive to a determination that thesecond portable electronic device is in the area associated with thelocal area network; determining a priority between the first and secondportable electronic devices according to hierarchical user informationassociated with the first and second portable electronic devices; andconfiguring the first and second portable electronic devices for directcontrol of the controlled device based on the priority determined,wherein the direct control includes providing advertisements to thecontrolled device.
 11. The server of claim 10, wherein the operationsfurther comprise: identifying a first advertisement to be presented bythe controlled device based on monitored behavior for the first portableelectronic device.
 12. The server of claim 11, wherein the monitoredbehavior includes accessing media content.
 13. The server of claim 11,wherein the monitored behavior includes voice calls to which the firstportable electronic device was a party, and wherein the identifying ofthe first advertisement is based on determining a called party.
 14. Theserver of claim 11, wherein the monitored behavior includes accessingwebsites via the first portable electronic device.
 15. The server ofclaim 10, wherein the operations further comprise: terminating controlof the controlled device by the first portable electronic deviceresponsive to determining that the first portable electronic device isoutside the area associated with the local area network.
 16. The serverof claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise: receiving a firstuser profile for a user of the first portable electronic device and asecond user profile for a user of the second portable electronic device,wherein the hierarchal user information is obtained from the first andsecond user profiles.
 17. The server of claim 10, wherein the controlleddevice is a television.
 18. A non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium comprising instructions, which, responsive to being executed by aprocessor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:determining that a first portable electronic device is in an areaassociated with a local area network; providing communication servicesto the first portable electronic device by way of the local areanetwork; receiving a first user profile from the first portableelectronic device; responsive to the communication services provided tothe first portable electronic device, enabling the first portableelectronic device to directly control a controlled device via a shortrange link, wherein the controlled device is communicatively coupled tothe local area network; determining that a second portable electronicdevice is in an area associated with a local area network; providingcommunication services to the second portable electronic device by wayof the local area network; receiving a second user profile from thesecond portable electronic device; responsive to the communicationservices provided to the second portable electronic device, enabling thesecond portable electronic device to directly control the controlleddevice via a short range link; and arbitrating direct control of thecontrolled device based on hierarchal information obtained from thefirst and second user profiles.
 19. The non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium of claim 18, wherein the first and second user profilescomprise digital rights information associated with the first and secondportable electronic devices, digital rights information associated witha user, subscription information, digital video recorder information,control settings, or combinations thereof.
 20. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the controlleddevice is one of a television or a stereo.